Lamb Shank in Wine

Instructions

• 1
  Preheat the oven to 160 °C.
• 2
  Roughly chop the onion. Peel the garlic. Make an incision under the bone of each shank with a sharp knife and insert one clove of garlic into the cut. Thoroughly rub salt into the meat from all sides. Season the meat with freshly ground pepper.
• 3
  Heat the oil in a pot over high heat. Sear the shanks until golden brown on all sides and set aside. Reduce the heat by half, add 60 g of butter and the onion to the pot, and sauté until golden brown, stirring frequently. Add the peppercorns, bay leaves, tomato paste, and rosemary, and sauté for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Pour in the wine, bring it to a boil, stir, return the shanks to the pot, reduce the heat by half, and reduce the wine to half its original volume.
• 4
  Add the remaining garlic and broth and bring to a boil. Cover the pot with a lid or aluminum foil and place it in the preheated oven. Bake for 2 hours or until the meat is completely tender.
• 5
  Carefully remove the cooked shanks from the pot and set them aside in a warm place. Skim off and discard the fat from the surface of the sauce with a ladle. Strain the sauce through a fine sieve into a clean pot.
• 6
  Dice the carrots, celery, and parsley into 0.5 cm cubes and add them to the sauce in which the shanks were braised. Return the shanks to the pot and reduce the sauce over medium heat to a syrup-like consistency. Frequently baste the shanks with the sauce. Remove from heat and gradually stir in the diced remaining chilled butter. Season the sauce with salt if needed.
• 7
  You can substitute rapeseed oil with sunflower oil, although rapeseed oil is more suitable in this case. It withstands higher temperatures before burning. Allow one lamb shank per serving. The meat should be at room temperature before searing. Use a fuller-bodied red wine. To avoid transferring the shanks and broth to a baking dish, cook everything from the start in a pot that can be placed in the oven. The sauce must not boil once you stir in the chilled butter at the end. This technique will refine, gloss, and thicken the sauce. You can serve the shanks with potato, celery, or mixed mashed potatoes. Recipes from Roman Vaněk can be found on Rohlík Chef in the side dishes category.